Essay on Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Giovanni is recounting what she’s had to do time and time again and the tone of the poem is one of frustration; frustration with the idea that, as a child, she was given the responsibility to surveil her father, yet without any means of action to curtail the violence that ensues. Giovanni goes so far to even describe herself as “[I am] the silent film (100)” to highlight that, while she may be watching, she is incapable of changing the circumstance because her voice would likely be silenced as “What goes on/In our house/Stays/In our house (Giovanni 100).” Her frustration with her inability to act is also a direct analogy to her frustration with the government’s lack of engagement in her family’s

In Rappaccini's Daughter, the original sinners, Adam and Eve, are represented by Giovanni Guasconti and Beatrice Rappaccini. Giovanni symbolizes Adam in the sense that he is shallow and insincere. When Giovanni first sees Beatrice, he is love struck. Hawthorne uses poetic diction when he writes, "…the impression which the fair stranger made upon him was as if here were another flower…as beautiful as they, more beautiful than the richest of them." This passage describes Giovanni's feelings towards the beautiful Beatrice. However, later we see that Giovanni's love was actually lust when the student discovers that he has been infected by Beatrice. The author writes, "Giovanni's rage broke forth from his sullen gloom like a lightning flash out of a dark cloud. 'Accursed one!' cried he, with venomous scorn and anger" Giovanni becomes enraged and blames Beatrice of this accidental infection. Similarly, Adam blames Eve of their disobedience when he is confronted by God. Adam does not show compassion towards his wife but instead, like Giovanni, lashes out with anger against Eve.

Rappacini's character shows that he is willing to put science before his family by giving Beatrice to science for the gain of power “Rappacini cares infinitely more for science than for mankind.” (Roy R. Male, 1954) . Both characters have to lust for greater power, which blinds them from their mortal being and flaws that can become of the experiments “The fountain symbolizes man’s potential spiritual perfection, the shattered base his mortal clay.” (Roy R. Male, 1954). Though they are striving for potential perfect Aylmer and Rappacini, both will be destroyed when achieving

Nathaniel Hawthorne's short stories “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” and “The Birthmark,” reflect Hawthorne's beliefs of playing God and changing natural events. In these short stories, these scientists take the experiments too far. Taking these experiments too far would be to lose characters or consequently have the character die. The scientists Dr. Heidegger from “Dr. Heidegger’s Experiment,” Rappaccini from “Rappaccini’s Daughter,” and Aylmer from “The Birthmark” change natural events which lead to the loss of a character.

Nevertheless, both Giovanni and Beatrice are similar in many ways regarding isolationism. In “Rappaccini’s Daughter” Giovanni and Beatrice are both led into isolation by older figures. Giovanni is led into the garden, which is an isolated area, by Lisabetta. Equally important, Hawthorne uses Rappaccini’s garden to isolate Beatrice from society. Beatrice has also been under the influence of her father, which in return further separates her from others: “You have heard of this daughter, whom all the young men in Padua are wild about, though not half a dozen have ever had the good hap to see her face” (Hawthorne para. 27). Alternatively, Giovanni and Beatrice are poisoned, which acts as a barrier separating them from humanity. Giovanni is affected

Nathaniel Hawthorne was one of American literature's finest writers; his writing style was very distinct and unusual in some aspects. It is his background that provided this ambiguous and complex approach to writing. Hawthorne's New England heritage has, at times, been said to be the contributing factor in his works. The Puritan view of life itself was considered to be allegorical, their theology rested primarily on the idea of predestination and the separation of the saved and the damned As evident from Hawthorne's writings his intense interest in Puritanical beliefs often carried over to his novels such as, Young Goodman Brown, The Scarlet Letter, and The Minister's Black Veil just to name a few of the more well known pieces of his work.

Each man only saw what he wanted to see regarding Beatrice, and for Giovanni, it was most complex. Her father probably had good intentions when he caused his daughter to be poisonous. He did it as a means of protection, but this backfired, because the tendency of others to misunderstand Beatrice's complex makeup led them to unintentionally kill her. Each of the three men in Rappaccinni's Daughter wanted to mold Beatrice into something and each had his own idea of her identity, yet none of them looked at her subjectively. This is pointed out by Luedtke on page 188. "When he (Giovanni) was unable to bring Beatrice 'rigidly and systematically' within the realm of his own experience, and unwilling to risk a closer knowledge, Giovanni left the poison-damsel to die in her own pleasure-place." It is interesting to note Luedtke's use of the words "pleasure-place". This suggests that the poisonous garden was not the real problem or prison for Beatrice. An interesting point is revealed by Luedtke as he states, "The author makes a late attempt to intertwine her poison and her purity, but the demonic and the angelic continue to occupy their separate spheres, the former of the body, the latter of the soul. As Baglioni's antidote takes effect, eradicating the poison from Beatrice's system, her physical life is consumed. The soul might be innocent but it has no resting place."(181) If Beatrice's soul had no

In his short stories, "Young Goodman Brown," "The Birthmark," and "Rappacciniâs Daughter," Nathaniel Hawthorne uses his female characters to illustrate the folly of demanding perfection in the flawed world of humanity. Although Hawthorneâs women appear to have dangerous aspects, they are true of heart, and thus, they cannot be fully possessed by the corrupt men who seek to control them.

Without a doubt, this little tale related by Professor Baglioni serves as a foreshadowing device related to Beatrice herself, meaning that Dr. Rappaccini has “experimented” on Beatrice since birth with poisons which have mysteriously endowed her with “Nordic” beauty. In fact, Professor Baglioni points out that Beatrice is certainly the offspring of her father’s experiments — “That old fable of the Indian woman,” he exclaims, “has become a truth by the deep and deadly science of Rappaccini and in the person of the lovely Beatrice” (Hawthorne, 1059). Beatrice then admits the truth, for she tells Giovanni that her father is “a man fearfully acquainted with the secrets of Nature” and that she is “the effect of my father’s fatal love of science” (Hawthorne, 1062). In order to rid Beatrice of this curse and be “purified

Nathaniel Hawthorne gives his own definition of romanticism in the preface to The House of Seven Gables. According to Hawthorne, the writer of a romance may "claim a certain latitude" and may "deepen and enrich the shadows of the picture," as long as he does not "swerve aside from the truth of the human heart." The writer of a romance "will be wise...to mingle the Marvelous" as long as he does it to a "slight," however if he "disregards this caution," he will not be committing "a literary crime" (Hawthorne, House of Seven Gables, preface). Nathaniel Hawthorne consistently stays true to his standards of romanticism. The application of these standards

Primarily, the characters in the book are foils for each other. One example is Lucie Manette and Madame Defarge. Lucie is a very gentle and loving woman. Everything that she does shows her kindness and virtue. Her tenderness and adoration for everyone empowers her to unite the family. For instance, when Lucie 's father was in a horrible state of depression, the only cure for his sadness was the sight of Lucie 's face and the touch of her skin. On the other

On page 33, when Giovanni and Beatrice are meeting for the first time he mentions to her that “if fame says true – you are deeply skilled in the virtues of the garden such as your farther”. This can possibly be Giovanni showing preference to an idea rather than to a human being. Due to the fact that he has never meet Beatrice and is judging her based on what he has heard from other people, shows preference to an idea. Professor Baglioni also shows preference to an idea when he shares the story of the Indian prince with Giovanni. He is clearly convinced that Beatrice is like the poisonous women that was sent to Alexander the great. Baglioni obviously seems to be influenced by a fable, which shows that he preferred the idea that he had about

The personification of Beatrice’s flaws give the reader a more vivid image of what Giovanni’s thought process was. When people are in love that usually accept all of the flaws of their lover and with Giovanni putting them in the back of his mind it supports the idea that he knew that something was wrong subconsciously. It was his love for her that blinded him. Even though these are flaws that cannot be seen as beautiful, Giovanni decides to ignore them and just not think about them. Giovanni’s view of Beatrice doesn’t seem to be able to change and because of that he is allowing his love of Beatrice to blind him from the truth. Hawthorne makes this obvious when he says, “...how stubbornly does love--or even a cunning semblance of love...how stubbornly does it hold its faith, until the moment come, when it is doomed to vanish into thin mist!”(50). The personification of love holding on to its faith resembles Giovanni’s feelings for Beatrice. Giovanni’s worship for Beatrice is keeping him from learning the truth. He is refusing to see anything about Beatrice, other than what he has already

With most writers, readers can identify what topics they tend to write about, how long their pieces often are, and what personal style these authors develop. While this is true of author Nathaniel Hawthorne, there are different elements that influence his writings. His life included many times of trials, many joys, and many ancestors that caused some turmoil within his mind. Two of his major works are influenced almost directly by his background (Werlock). Nathaniel Hawthorne threw his life into every single piece of his writing. His experiences, background, and the setting in which his life took place are prominent

At the beginning of the story, Hawthorne establishes a dark mood when describing the ancestors who were occupying the mansion “pictured by Dante as a partaker of the immortal agonies of his Inferno” (Hawthorne). This allusion refers to the “Divine Comedy” and the Inferno, which tells Dante’s journey through hell. This story also alludes to the tale of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, in which the prominent figures disobey God and they end up being cast out of Eden, the paradise. One of the parts in the story of “Rappaccini’s Daughter” that alludes the tale of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden is when Giovanni thinks “was this garden, then, the Eden of the present world?” about Rappaccini’s botanical garden (Hawthorne). In addition, Beatrice can be associated with Eve because, despite the fact that her body is corrupted by her father and becomes poisonous, her soul always remains pure and clean. With her beauty, Beatrice enamors Giovanni and poisons him slowly unintentionally with her breath and essence of the violet flower. Beatrice does not know that she can poison Giovanni because she is imprisoned in the garden, as Beatrice says to Giovanni, “the effect of my father’s fatal love of science, which estranged me from all society of my kind” (Hawthorne). Giovanni is not really in love with Beatrice because he convinces her to drink the